aboriginal tunnels for water...

It appears that Australian aboriginals 'channelled and filtered their water, covering it to avoid contamination and evaporation. They also created wells and tunnel reservoirs.' Tunnels accessed groundwater. Ants led them to subterranean reservoirs.https://t.co/bwEyr7yrDL.

— Gemma Wiseman (@AuraGem) October 23, 2020

I'm not downplaying their extensive genius in using water . That the conditions of aquifers in Australia were perhaps the reason that there were no extensive dug wells . Many of the ancient people had wells . Their agriculture system was magnificent . Yet the dug wells and wheel?

— zenrainman (@zenrainman) October 23, 2020

True all that. Correlation is not causation. Not disputing any of what you say . Just commenting on a possible link between wells and wheels . Last December I travelled extensively across Oz to find this link. Could not.

— zenrainman (@zenrainman) October 23, 2020

Agree with the construct of 'progress'. One 'suit' does not 'suit' all. 'We didn’t have the wheel. We bypassed it. It didn’t suit our needs...We also lived without the associated range of problems of industry, pollution and heavy labour.' https://t.co/MtgTafTLK3

— Gemma Wiseman (@AuraGem) October 23, 2020

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, 53, is a water activist and has been working in the space for over 27 years. Mr. Vishwanath is also a columnist for The Hindu, who writes weekly columns about water preservation. A Civil Engineer, and Urban & Regional Planner by profession, he has worked with HUDCO(Housing and Urban Development Corporation) for 14 years. Vishwanath or popularly known as @zenrainman, started a club while he was in HUDCO. “We started a small group called the rainwater club in 1994. We used to collect documents and information about rainwater harvesting and put it up on public domain.”

MY FINAL COMMENT: The only geographical area and civilization NOT to have extensive dug wells is the original people of Australia. Incidentally they did not have the wheel too. Is the well and the wheel connected? - zenrainman

The hypothetical connection between wells and the wheel is a rather questionable one. What qualifies as a well - naturally found between rocks (surely this must have some value in an arid zone), hand-scooped or dug with tools? The aboriginal concept of a well is often aligned with water tunnels. And, as Aboriginal had no need for a wheel, the whole hypothesis seems to stumble away from any possibility of validity. Further, wells were not even necessary to provide for crops. Perennnial crops, such as kangaroo grass, did not need ploughing and did not generate a loss of topsoil. Just random rain was enough for the crop. No need for irrigation. Finally, what does this hypothesis hope to achieve? One civilisation is more advanced than another? One civilisation progresses faster than another? Surely, comparing water management skills of different societies would have more value, improving modern society's water management understanding. 

FIRST MACHINE: The first known reference to a machine dates to the ancient Near East circa 5000 BC, when it was first used in a simple balance scale, a lever.  In ancient Egypt circa 4400 BC, a foot pedal was used for the earliest horizontal frame loom. In Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) circa 3000 BC, the shadouf, a crane-like device that uses a lever mechanism, was invented for irrigation.  In ancient Egypt technology, workmen used the lever to move and uplift obelisks weighing more than 100 tons. Archimedes referred to the lever in the 3rd C B.C. So a connection between the wheel and water seems even more remote, the closest being a shadouf.